1,000 more electric buses, new tram stops, new interchanges and a massive Metrolink announcement
'A gamechanging moment' for Greater Manchester's Bee Network
New tram stops, 1,000 more electric buses, tram-trains, new interchanges and a cash commitment to a long-awaited Metrolink extension to Stockport. The Bee Network revolution is set to continue.
It comes as Greater Manchester secures a bumper transport deal worth £2.5bn over the next seven years.
The government announcement paves the way for Metrolink trams to FINALLY run to Stockport town centre after years of campaigning, as well the purchasing of 1,000 new electric Bee Network buses.
It also includes three stops on existing tram lines - in Manchester, Bury and Oldham It is understood they will be Sandhills in north Manchester; Elton Reservoir in Bury; and Cop Road in Oldham.
Plans for new city centre and Leigh interchanges are also being worked up. And tram-trains will soon be on their way to parts of the region, travelling along Metrolink lines AND and rail tracks.
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“This is a gamechanging moment that will underpin Greater Manchester’s green growth for years to come," mayor Andy Burnham said.
"Building on our strong track record, we can now move at pace to deliver the next phase of the Bee Network – creating the UK’s first fully electric, zero emission integrated public transport system by 2030,” said mayor Andy Burnham.
“With a pipeline of major transport projects better connecting our towns and cities, and local rail lines brought into the Bee Network, our communities will be the first outside London to be served by fully joined-up bike, bus, tram and train travel.
“Greater Manchester has had a decade of growth faster than the UK average. This funding – together with our devolved decision-making powers – can be .
"It’s a major boost for our own plans to deliver £10bn of investment over the next 10 years, build thousands of new homes, create skilled jobs, and open up new opportunities right across our city-region.”
Writing exclusively for the Manchester Evening News, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "For too long, the mindset of previous governments has been to hoard power and potential behind the walls of Westminster. The result? Proud places across the country have been neglected and left behind.
"We’re ending that. Today we are announcing £15.6bn in funding for local transport projects in England’s city regions. That’s the biggest ever cash boost for local transport in England.
"What does that mean for Greater Manchester? To put it simply, we’re putting in £2.5bn to transform public transport. That means the mayor can grow the Metrolink tram network.
"There’ll be new stops in Bury, North Manchester and Oldham and extending the tram to Stockport town centre. And it will provide funding to move to a fully electrified bus fleet by 2030, future proofing bus travel and making journeys and travelling around the Greater Manchester area better for passengers.
"All of this will create jobs. It will improve people’s commutes. It will mean bigger labour markets for employers and more opportunity for workers. And it will mean a better connected city for you to live, work in and visit."
No timescales have been given for when construction work will start, let alone when the new facilities will open, but the funding covers 2027 to 2032. Plans are expected to advance in the coming years.
The new tram stop in Sandhills will form part of Manchester’s £3.8bn Victoria North project, a ‘new town’ of 15,000 homes that will be built across 155 hectares from Angel Meadow in the city centre to Collyhurst in north Manchester.
It takes its name from the Sandhills park and former quarry, and would sit between Victoria and Queens Road stations, one of the longest gaps between Metrolink halts.
A similar line of thinking is employed for the new Elton Reservoir stop, falling between Radcliffe and Bury.
It’s part of a project to build 3,500 homes on formerly green belt land around the new park and ride station, which will also ‘increase the attractiveness of the reservoir as a leisure destination and provide better access to greenspace in the south of Bury’, the borough’s transport strategy said.
A new station on Cop Road, in Oldham, would be built between the Derker station and Shaw and Crompton stop, and like Elton Reservoir is identified as a priority in Andy Burnham’s controversial Places for Everyone plan with 1,450 homes eyed for the location.
Tram-trains are also also set to come to Oldham, as TfGM added it will roll-out the hybrid services to the borough along with Rochdale, Heywood, and Bury. The tech sees services run on traditional tramlines for some parts of the network, but on railway lines using batteries for others.
Few details have been released on the Stockport extension’s route, but previously TfGM chiefs said its bus interchange was built so it can link up to a new tram line.
It’s thought the line could extend from the existing terminus at East Didsbury. Publicly-available maps of railway lines show there is the dormant Manchester South District Railway, which runs from the end of the in-use East Didsbury tram line.
Should trams follow the old rail line, they would then run through Heaton Mersey, but require a new spur crossing the M60 motorway and West Coast Mainline to reach the ‘tram capable’ town centre interchange.
The 1,000 new electric Bee Network buses are set to be purchased by 2030, meaning Greater Manchester’s transport network should be carbon neutral by the end of the decade.
Those buses could stop at a new Leigh interchange, with regular V1 passengers also set to hop off at a new ‘central Manchester transport interchange’, details of which have yet to be confirmed.